Esterbrook launched their new line of Safari cartridge pens and pencils in 1957 to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary.  The first version was an all plastic cap and barrel and is often found with cracks in the cap.  Quality control wasn't what it was expected to be and Esterbrook quickly switched to the metal cap plastic barrel configuration the next year.  Plunger-Fill pens are identical in shape to the second generation Safari, with the same metal cap, but have a blind cap at the end of the barrel to release the plunger filler.  These pens have tight clips, soft plastic barrels which scratch when posted, and a very small ink capacity.

This is a shop prototpe of the Safari.  This is not actually a pen, but a mock up held together by a pin in the middle. The barrel end tapers to a much narrower end than the actual production model.  Consider this to be the first Safari.

This is the profile of the Safari Pen with its tapered cap and sleek clip.

The Safari was made in six different colors, Black, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Green, Grey, and Red.

Shortly after being introduced, the Safari pen managed to find one noticeable flaw, the cap.  The plastic was too thin and brittle to be handled roughly and broken caps are all too common.  Esterbrook solved this by switching to a metal cap, giving it that "DeLuxe" look.  Only problem was the metal cap now can scratch the barrel end when posting, as can be evidenced by many of my examples shown here.

Esterbrook added a third model to he Safari lineup called the Plunger-Fill.  These utilize a very small sac and operate similar to Sheaffer Touchdown fillers.  If you use a broad nib in one of these pens, you'll find yourself refilling several times throughout the day.

This is a prototype "flighter" model of the safari that was never produced.  All steel with ribbing around the barrel similar to the cap.

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